Earlier this week I traveled into Manchester to discuss details of my upcoming exhibition. We were in a rush to leave, I wasn’t sure if I’d remembered to charge the batteries on my Leica M9 and part of me couldn’t be bothered lugging round a camera all day to be honest.

So… How did I survive? Well, if I’m honest I did bring a camera. My phone camera anyway. Now, I know lots I people are doing great work with their phones but I’ve just never enjoyed using mine. Indon’t like the wide angle, the lack of control, the files never look right to me.

What I found was firstly, I saw so many shots that I wanted to take but couldn’t which made me really wish I had my camera! This is a good exercise to reinvigorate your photography if you’re in one of those lulls we all find ourselves in.

Secondly, I took a lot of shots I normally wouldn’t have! Your phone camera, like I expect the new ‘stealth’ Leica makes you invisible. People are so used to seeing people with phones out that they don’t notice you. This meant I got much closer than I would have done with a big chunk of brass and glass to my eye.

Lastly, my wife seemed much more tolerant of me stopping every five minutes to photograph something interesting!

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